


How Batman Ruined Christmas

by magicsophicorn



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Gen, Kittens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-27
Updated: 2014-12-27
Packaged: 2018-03-03 20:57:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2887661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicsophicorn/pseuds/magicsophicorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snow gives Regina and Henry a kitten for Christmas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Batman Ruined Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Probably set somewhere mid series 3? I don't know. But baby Neal hasn't been born yet.
> 
> Secret Santa fic for [](http://katleept.livejournal.com/profile)[katleept](http://katleept.livejournal.com/) at [](http://lands-of-magic.livejournal.com/profile)[lands_of_magic](http://lands-of-magic.livejournal.com/)

"What on earth is that?"

The disdain was evident in Regina's voice but it didn't worry Snow much, she knew she'd come around sooner or later.

"It's a kitten, Regina, what does it look like?" Snow couldn't help smirking as she replied, she didn't often get to out-sass Regina.

"And why is it in my house?"

"Because," Snow said, as she gently lifted the little black kitten out of the pet carrier, "It's my Christmas present to you and Henry."

The kitten mewed softly and Snow smiled as she stroked it. This idea had been a stroke of genius, if she said so herself.

A few months ago Henry had decided to live half the time at Regina's mansion and the other half the time with Emma, and although she'd never admit it, Snow could tell that sometimes Regina could get a little lonely during the times when Henry wasn't there. The obvious solution was, in Snow's opinion, a pet.

"Absolutely not," Regina stated, crossing her arms.

"I thought you might say that, so… HENRY!" Snow yelled, knowing he was somewhere in the house.

Sure enough, a few moments later Henry came thundering down the stairs.

"What? What is it? Is something happening? Is there a villain?" Henry panted.

"Oh no, nothing like that, don't worry Henry," Snow chuckled, "I just wanted to give you and your mom your Christmas present. Here."

Snow held the kitten out to Henry, who obviously hadn't noticed it before, as his eyes widened and a massive grin broke out on his face.

"Oh it's so cute! Is it a boy or a girl? Does it have a name already?" Henry asked as he reached out and took the kitten from Snow.

"It's a boy, and no he doesn't already have a name, I think you and your mom should name him together, don't you agree Regina?"

Snow turned to find Regina glaring at her intently, and she knew that she'd won then. There was no way Regina would return the kitten now that Henry wanted it.

"I think you should name him, dear. I'm not very good at thinking of names." Regina said, her face softening as she turned to her son.

Henry beamed.

"I'm going to call him… Batman!"

Snow and Regina exchanged glances.

"Is that really an appropriate name for a cat, dear?" Regina asked.

"Of course it is!" Henry said with a grin, "Look!"

Henry lifted the kitten up and tried to hold it over his head so that its ears made a batman mask, but the kitten was so little and fidgety that it didn't really work.

"Batman is a great name for a kitten," Snow said, fervently hoping the cat wouldn’t scratch him on the face.

"Here you go Batman," Henry said, setting the kitten down on the floor, "Why don't you go explore your new home."

The kitten looked around for a moment before running off in the direction of the kitchen, with Henry following close behind.

"Don't worry," Snow said, "he's already been to the vets and had all his jabs. And I also got you food and water dishes for him, and a couple of toys, although to be honest kittens will be just as happy to play with a piece of string."

"You know, I always knew you were sneaky, manipulative, and downright underhanded," Regina said, shaking her head.

Snow smiled. Once upon a time those words would have been said with utter conviction and hatred, but now there wasn't a trace of malice in Regina's voice, only amusement. Snow was so pleased that after everything they had been through they had arrived at a place where they could joke about these things with one another.

"What can I say," she replied with a grin, "I learned from the best."

Regina smiled at that too.

"Okay, well, I should go. What time shall we all come round tomorrow?"

Tomorrow was Christmas day and, to the surprise of everyone, Regina had offered to host the whole family for Christmas dinner. She had claimed it was simply because she had the biggest house, but Snow thought that there was probably something to do with being in control in there somewhere. Whatever the reason, Snow was really excited that they would all be spending Christmas together as a family, including Regina, this year.

"Lunch will be ready at 1, so feel free to come any time before then. I will be busy in the kitchen but I'm sure Henry will be pleased to show you all his presents which he no doubt will have opened at 6am."

"Emma will be exactly the same, like mother, like son. She'll probably go back to sleep after opening them though. So we'll probably be round at about 11. See you tomorrow Regina."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Regina was stood at the kitchen sink peeling potatoes when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her leg. She looked down into two large amber eyes, as the little black kitten climbed up her leg as if it were a tree.

"Batman!" Regina scolded loudly, instantly feeling utterly ridiculous for having to say that out loud.

She disentangled the kitten from her leg and deposited it in the hallway before heading back into the kitchen and shutting the door behind her so he couldn't get back in.

Regina took a calming breath before continuing to prepare the roast dinner. She would never admit it to another soul, but there was a part of her that was nervous. So she did what she always did when she felt this way, and tried to control absolutely everything. They had been through so much together, Snow, Charming and herself, even Emma really. It was hard to believe sometimes that they had reached a place in their relationship where they all considered each other _family_. Even though the Charmings had said so, Regina still sometimes doubted it and in truth that as why she had offered to host everyone for Christmas dinner, and why she was doing absolutely everything in her power to make it utterly perfect.

That and she knew without a doubt that she was a better cook than Snow, she hadn't spent several years in Storybrooke teaching herself to cook for nothing.

Regina had had just finished peeling all the potatoes when she heard a loud crash from somewhere in the house.

"Henry!"

Regina's heart raced as she dashed from room to room to try to find her son, she hoped he wasn't hurt.

When she arrived at the living room she was met with a scene of utter devastation. The large Christmas tree was laying on the floor, ornaments smashed around it. It had even knocked some bottles and glasses off of the side table which now also lay in pieces on the floor.

Thankfully, however, Henry was nowhere to be seen.

A little meow caught Regina's attention and she spotted Batman tangled up in a string of Christmas lights towards the top of the tree.

"How on earth did you get all the way up there, you little terror?" Regina murmured as she gently untangled the little ball of fluff from the lights, checking that he hadn't cut himself on any of the shattered glass or ornaments.

Just as she lifted the kitten free from the tree, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Henry yelled from upstairs. Trust her son to hear the doorbell but not the crash of the Christmas tree destroying the living room.

Regina worried her bottom lip while stroking the cat absent mindedly. She could easily clear the mess up with magic, but Henry still didn't like her using it for anything other than emergencies.

The sounds of Snow, Charming and Emma greeting Henry and taking off their shoes and coats drifted through the house and Regina sighed and left the living room, shutting the door to hide the utter chaos contained within.

"Try not to destroy the rest of my house, please, if that's not too much to ask, Batman," Regina said as she put the kitten down in the hallway. Despite the fact that this was clearly the worst behaved cat to ever have lived, Regina still found she quite liked the animal, and she hated to admit that it was partly due to her son's ridiculous choice of name.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The starter, roast salmon terrine, had been delicious, of course, and Regina was feeling very pleased with the way dinner was going so far.

Regina was sat at the head of the table with Snow and Charming on one side and Emma and Henry on the other. Everyone was chatting happily, wearing their paper hats from their crackers, and Regina felt the most content she had in a long time.

The beeping of the oven timer in the kitchen interrupted the conversation and Emma and Henry both cheered in unison at the prospect of more food.

"If you'll excuse me," Regina said, standing, "that'll be the turkey."

After bringing out the vegetables and all the other trimmings to the table, and putting the final touches to the roast turkey, Regina triumphantly entered the dining room carrying the large bird like a trophy.

"I hope you're all hungry because…"

She never got to finish her sentence. As she neared the table a small black shape darted out of nowhere, jumped up on to the sideboard, and then straight at the turkey.

Regina lost her grip on the plate as the kitten landed on it, and watched in abject horror as the turkey sailed through the air, as if in slow motion, and landed on the floor with a loud squelch.

The kitten landed nimbly right behind it, and instantly ran forward and sank its teeth into the turkey, trying to drag it across the floor. Of course the turkey being twice the size of the little kitten meant it wasn't able to get very far.

"BATMAN!" Regina, Snow and Henry all cried in unison, causing Emma and Charming to look incredibly confused.

Snow rushed forward and scooped the kitten up in her arms and left the room. Regina could faintly hear Snow telling Batman how naughty he'd been as she let him out the back door.

At the same time Emma had dashed forward and tried to save the turkey.

"It'll probably be fine if we just cut these bits off…" Emma said hopefully.

Regina didn't say a word. The perfect Christmas lunch she had been planning was crumbling around her and she was feeling far more upset about that than she would care to admit.

"Excuse me, I, I just need a minute," she said, then turned and fled the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Regina? Are you okay?" Snow's gentle voice interrupted Regina's spiraling thoughts.

"Yes, dear, I'm fine, I'll be back in in a moment."

Snow entered the kitchen and leaned on the counter opposite Regina.

"Emma's managed to cut off all the bits of the turkey that touched the floor. Or the cat. There's plenty left that's still good. You should come and eat before it all gets cold."

"I will, I'll just be a minute longer."

Regina still didn't feel quite composed enough yet to face everyone again.

"You know," Snow started, looking down at her hands as she twisted the ring on her finger round and round, "you really don't need to worry so much about hosting the perfect Christmas dinner."

Snow looked up at her and smiled softly, and Regina realised the expression on her face had probably just told Snow that she had hit the nail right on the head as to the reason why Regina was so upset.

"Honestly Regina, you could have served us all cheese on toast and it would still be the perfect Christmas, because it's not the food that matters, it's the company. You're family, Regina, you always have been, and I'm so glad that I finally get to spend Christmas with you again."

Regina had never been very good at showing affection to anyone other than Henry, but Snow's words meant so much to her. She reached out and embraced the other woman.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Snow smiled and squeezed her hand.

"Come on, let's go eat some turkey."

Snow and Regina entered the dining room as Henry was animatedly retelling the events of the past five minutes despite the act that everyone had been there and seen it for themselves.

"Did you so the way he just jumped out of nowhere? Like a ninja!"

Emma laughed and put on her best gruff man voice, "He is the hero this turkey deserves. He is… BATMAN!"

Everyone laughed and Regina and Snow took their seats at the table once more.

"Mom, this was the best Christmas EVER!" Henry said, a massive grin on his face, "I can't WAIT to tell everyone at school what Batman did!"

Regina glanced at Snow who was looking at her with a smug _see-i-told-you-so_ expression on her face.

"Well, if you think that's good, you should see what Batman has done to our Christmas tree," Regina said with a smile.

All her previous anxiety was gone, and she finally felt able to relax and enjoy Christmas with her family.

"I propose a toast," Snow said, raising her glass, "to Batman!"

"To Batman!"


End file.
